"HOWLERS SUPPORT AFGHANISTAN RUGBY" IS MUCH MORE THAN JUST ABOUT THE ACTUAL GAME - IT'S ABOUT GIVING KIDS AN OPPORTUNITY/OPTION. LOOK AND LISTEN TO THIS VIDEO ABOVE SAYS IT ALL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don Hewson a cultish rugby disciple and honorary Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces from Vancouver who generously contributed to this endeavour had this to say - "Great cause! I was in Kabul and area this year, any positive impact we can help the children with is good. Play rugby not war!" . He agrees with Asad Zair the CEO of the Afghanistan Rugby Federation's assessment that " by making the young generation busy in sport activities they won't have sufficient time for drug addiction and that they will be prevented from other criminal activities and in turn hopefully they won't be part of the fighting sides". He went further to say - "There are about 50 countries helping Afghanistan to fight terrorism, but there is not a single country to help our war-torn country develop the sport. Sport is a strong tool for bringing peace, stability and brotherhood in Afghanistan, and not the weapons and war planes, since we have witnessed that with the bombings and fights nothing has been achieved"

In a telephone conversation I had with Asad he attributed one reason for the relatively rapid growth of the game (500 players in 18 months) in his country to the fact that Afghans really enjoy the physical aspect of the game. The biggest impediment he has when he goes into the schools in an effort to promote the game is that he has no balls or any other rugby essential support "stuff" to give them to actually start a program. Keep in mind that the average anual income in this war torn country is $600 .

LISTEN AND WATCH WATCH WITH WHAT PASSION/INTENSITY THESE YOUNG AFGHAN RUGBY STARS OF THE FUTURE PERFORM THE TRADITIONAL MAORI WAR DANCE/CRY THE "HAKA " THAT THE NEW ZEALAND 'ALL BLACKS' TRADITIONALLY PERFORM PRIOR TO THEIR MATCHES -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woXNILYnFtk

The object of this fundraising endeavour is to purchase much needed balls, cones, flags,and rugby jerseys/tops etc. along with collecting any full sets of used playing strip and boots and ship them to the Afghanistan Rugby Federation.

The Dog River Howlers rugby club's hope is that the rugby community (clubs, schools and individuals) recognize and embrase the merits of this project and in turn organizes their own fundraiser/strip boots collection to support this "Howlers Support Upstart Afghanistan Rugby " project. Check the facebook page for updates -http://www.facebook.com/HowlersSupportUpstartAfghanistanRugby?fref=ts .

Let's make Canada the global leader in supporting the development of Afghan sport !!

The Howlers would like to thank the people listed below who have so generously helped kick this campaign off.

The Beginnings for Afghanistan Rugby - written by Afghan Rugby CEO Asad Ziar - asadziar@yahoo.com-----------------------------------------------The idea of introducing rugby in Afghanistan was a kind of a shared idea because it involves three founding members which include Mr.Mohammad Mansoor, Abdul Khalil and Mr. Asad Ziar and they all agreed in October 2010 that will introduce rugby to Afghans and it was the foundation day of rugby, while officially rugby came into existence in Afghanistan in May 2011 and it was first introduced through a Rugby Introductory Camp which was sponsored by a shopping Mall called “ Majid Mall”

About the founders:

1. Mohammad Mansoor, President of Afghanistan Rugby Federation ( ARF ) , who is a well known Afghan businessman who is now living in Dubai, UAE and apart from supporting rugby development in Afghanistan also owns firms and businesses in Dubai and as well as in Afghanistan. He owns a master degree in management and has done many business development courses and always do his best to financially help the ARF. Mr. Mansoor is not only a businessman he is a also dedicated to provide work facilities to Afghans and assist them in their lives and he is keen to see rugby’s growth in Afghanistan, since he is a peace loving person he always strive to share his struggles from Dubai, UAE or London, UK.

2. Abdul Khali, Vice President of Afghanistan Rugby Federation ( ARF ), who is now living in London, UK is a keen lover of rugby and was the marketing officer for Afghanistan Cricket Board and has good contribution in developing Afghan Cricket while he was in Afghanistan, He is now living and working in UK. He is a grade 12th graduate from Afghanistan. Mr. Khalil is a good asset to Afghan Rugby and he always help the Federation in technical aspects since he has an experience of 5 years in another sport federation and his suggestion for contacting the Afghan National Olympic committee is always positive. He is a volunteer and all his advices are free of cost and he even spends from his own pocket to push the development of rugby in Afghanistan from thousands of miles away.

3. Asad Ziar, Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan Rugby Federation ( ARF), is someone in the ground and can be name as the one who introduced into the country, since he is the one who lives in Kabul and works in Kabul and always travels to far flung areas in Afghanistan and has a decade of experience working for the development of education, lives of the children, demobilization and re integration of the underage soldiers and many more fields. He owns a Master in Business Administration ( MBA) and as well a Master in Literature ( M.A) along with many technical trainings by Humanitarian and other organizations. Mr.Ziar is dedicated for changing the lives of the Afghan children by sport. He is now employed by a firm and work as general manager and he has good relation with ISAF / NATO / UN and other reputed organization and he always spends some of his pocket money for the development of rugby in Afghanistan and works voluntarily for Afghanistan Rugby Federation ( ARF).

After the rugby was introduced locals loved it from the off, with many leaving other sports clubs to come and join in a game they’d never heard of before. Rugby perfectly suits their physical and robust nature and has pretty similar DNA to the national sport of Buzkashi, except that involves a dead goat.

Asad Ziar has been travelling the country spreading the word and opening up rugby clubs wherever he can, teaching everyone from boys to men the basic skills they need. The International side is extremely determined and according to Asad has several characters who would push for an All Black’s place.

Our aim is to support a youngsters, youth , kids and girls who are choosing sport against a backdrop of violence, conflict and suffering. We’re not making judgments about the war, or about individuals, it’s about sport, doing something positive and result oriented and having fun and the most positive aspect that we will attract our new generation towards sport and providing them the opportunity to not to be part of the violence , war and drug addiction.

This is a huge undertaking for Afghanistan Rugby Federation ( ARF ) and we're just very committed to introduce rugby to each and every kids in Afghanistan and it is only possible with the help from around the world.

All the three founders are young , energetic and dedicated people and none of them need anything from Afghanistan Rugby Federation but the development of sport, their vision and aim is a shared one and they have always contributed in the development of rugby in Afghanistan. We do have a transparent financially and monitoring system that each penny is donated to us has been received a transparent report and if we are donated kits we have sent out videos and pictures along with the financial reports , hence there will always be an addition from us and no subtraction and we do realize that our country stands in the second row in the field of corruption but till we are there , we will not allow such people to join us.